


Thursday’s Child

by sg_wonderland



Series: Days series [13]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 21:11:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8176205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sg_wonderland/pseuds/sg_wonderland
Summary: Daniel’s journey





	

**Author's Note:**

> Monday’s child is fair of face  
> Tuesday’s child is full of grace  
> Wednesday’s child is full of woe  
> Thursday’s child has far to go  
> Friday’s child is loving and giving  
> Saturday’s child has to work for a living  
> But a child who is born on the Sabbath Day is bonny and blithe and good and gay.-Very old nursery rhyme

I’m pretty sure I’m lost. But all of these corridors look alike. Jack’s office is not where I thought it was. There are an awful lot of closed doors. Maybe I should just turn around and go back the way I came? If I can find the elevator, I can go back to Sam’s office and everything will be just fine, I tell myself. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. But as I start back down the hallway, a loud alarm screams from the walls. Startled, I fall back against one of the doors, which swings open and I tumble inside. And before I can scramble to my feet, a lot of people go running down the hallway shouting. Maybe I’ll just stay here, where it’s safe. While I’m still trying to decide what to do, the door swings shut. 

This is not good. I crawl toward the little bit of light that is coming in under the door. I find the door and fumble for the knob, which is too big and heavy for me to turn. Somewhere, there has to be a light switch so I let my hands go straight up the wall until I find the switch and flip the light on. Okay, that’s much better. I try the knob again; no, it’s not going to open. I bang and kick and shout but it’s obvious no one is around to hear me.

Jack will miss me and he’ll start looking but the base is very big and it might take him awhile and I try not to think about how long it just might take.

There are lots of shelves and so I start a pattern on the right, making my way around the room, looking for anything to help me escape. There’s lots of toilet paper which might be helpful if I’m stuck in here for very long. But it also makes a fine stool to help me see what’s on the shelves. 

Some pencils and, oh, wait, here’s some paper. It’s so heavy that when I try to pull it down, both me and the paper go tumbling backwards but luckily, my head hits the toilet paper and not the hard floor. The outer covering around the paper splits, scattering sheets all over the floor. Now for the pencils. Okay, they’re not sharpened so that’s no good. Well, I’ve got paper, now if I can find something to write with, I can shove a message under the door, and someone’s bound to come along sooner or later.

I’d prefer sooner.

Halfway around the room, I find some of the picnic meals Jack brought when we went to visit Kasuf; he called them, let me think, something with initials? Anyway, if I remember, some of them have dessert in them.

Four packages of cookies and two pouches of juice later, I decide I’ve had enough to eat. Looking for something to wipe my hands on because of the chocolate, I stop to stare at them. Okay, this might work. I rub my hands together and then make prints on the papers before running over to slide them under the door. I’m sure Jack will know that’s my hand right away; who else would it be?

Okay, that problem solved. Now I just have to sit and wait for rescue. Jack says that’s the first mistake most people make when they’re lost; instead of staying in one place, they wander around and make it harder to find them. Not that I really have any choice; I’m not going anywhere.

Might as well get comfortable. All those rolls of toilet paper must be pretty soft; on TV that seems to be a pretty big selling point. So I pile a bunch of them up between two shelves, wishing I had a blanket. Some more snooping and I find some clothes like Jack wears, including some heavy jackets. One makes a pretty good pillow, stuffed with shirts and folded so that the zipper is on the inside while another becomes a blanket. Yawning, I snuggle down in my home-made bed and hope Jack will find me soon.

*

I will admit to having at least one heart-in-my-throat moment when Carter called in a panic because she had ‘misplaced’ Daniel. I actually figured it was more of a case of Daniel ‘misplacing’ himself. After all, it is a big base and there are lots of things that would draw the attention of a curious six-year-old.

So I calmed Carter down, called the General and spread the alarm. Pretty soon, we had dozens of battle-trained soldiers putting their well-honed search and rescue skills to good use by searching for a fugitive first grader. We know there are certain levels he couldn’t be on unless he had swiped someone’s card. If that’s the case, he may be looking at some serious jail time in the O’Neill Big House.

No more than fifteen minutes have passed before Siler calls the command post, formerly known as Hammond’s office, to report the discovery of several pieces of paper with suspiciously tiny chocolate hand prints. It seems the miscreant had been located. The only problem is locating the key to that particular store room but they hope to have it open soon.

Several million dollars worth of SGC personnel piles off the elevator, only to come to a grinding halt, felled not by a Goa’uld but by one six-year-old and a locked door.

“You sure he’s in there?” I lean against the wall by Siler.

“No, sir, he didn’t answer when we knocked.”

“Well, if he’s taking a nap, a mother ship might not have woken him up.” I know this because after waking him up some mornings, or thinking he was awake, I’ve gone back upstairs to find him still fast asleep. I decide not to knock again, since if I do wake him, the only thing I can tell him is to hang on. It’s usually best to let sleeping kids lie. Another life lesson I’ve learned the hard way.

Dusty finally makes an appearance with his big honkin’ key ring, which he proceeds to fiddle through. “Lost your boy, Colonel?”

“Looks like.”

“Well, I lost my youngest once. His mother was on the verge of calling the Marines when we found him asleep in the doghouse.” With that he proceeds to open the door and we all peer inside. “At least it’s not the doghouse.” Dusty grins at the sight we now behold. 

“At least. Thanks, Dusty.” I start to step around him, only to be stopped by Carter, who holds her cell phone in front of her.

“Just one picture, Colonel.” I nod and let her snap away before I close in on Daniel. Sporting chocolate smeared face and hands, he is curled up in the nest he has concocted with toilet paper and parkas. Leaving the jacket wrapped around him, I carefully lift him up into my arms. Carter is nearly in tears at the sight of him safe and sound. Hell, even Teal’c looks suspiciously bright-eyed.

“He’s fine, little soap and water and he’ll be like new.” With a grimace, I notice the state of the store room. “Uh, Dusty…”

“Don’t you worry ‘bout it, Colonel, won’t take no time to set it to rights. You get that boy home, you hear me?” Dusty is poking around at Daniel’s mess. “Pretty enterprising little feller, ain’t he?”

*

He doesn’t even stir when Carter washes his face and hands. I forestall her apology with a wave of my hand. “It’s okay, Carter. I should have just left him at the daycare but I thought the conference call would only last a few minutes.” It actually lasted the best past of an hour. Next time, I am taking him to the daycare or to the folks’ house. 

But since this thing with Ballard, I’ve been fairly reluctant to let him out of my sight. Especially since Major Osbourne informed me there was every chance the old coot was gonna petition for visitation rights. A move we are preparing to fight tooth and nail; Bennett believes it wouldn’t be in Daniel’s best interest and might cause an emotional setback.

After she and Teal’c leave, I just sit in silence and hold him while he slobbers on my uniform. Dusty had a point, Daniel had done an excellent job of using what he had. The chocolate help sign, the toilet paper bed were both pretty inventive. Carter showed me the picture she took with her phone; that’s a keeper. Might even use it as a training tool.

I’ve just about decided to give in to the cramp in my leg when he starts to stir. He blinks at me several times as I quiz him about how his big adventure got started. Just as I’d figured, he’d wandered away on his way back from the bathroom. He takes it in stride when I inform him he owes Carter an apology for scaring her and the general one for causing a base-wide alarm. I have to bite my lip to keep from grinning when he points out that getting lost wasn’t something he did deliberately and at least search and rescue got a drill because of him. His eyes brighten as he gets one of his off-the-wall ideas. “Hey, how about I use the microphone and I can apologize to the whole base at one time?” 

I stand up and shift him in my arms. “No to the blanket apology.”

His shoulders shrug in defeat before he drapes himself across my shoulder. “Then can we go home? I don’t feel so good.”

I pull him around and eye him suspiciously as we head for the elevator. “Just how many of those MREs did you eat, anyway?”


End file.
